


Masque of the Red Death

by ArisenFromNightmares



Series: Blaque Mirror [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Corruption, Drama, Dream Sequence, Forced Fusion, Gen, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-02-28 05:20:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13264539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArisenFromNightmares/pseuds/ArisenFromNightmares
Summary: In the Fallout of Beacon's destruction, the remaining members of Team RWBY find themselves on two separate paths.The White Queen looks to rise above her name and blaze a path all her own while searching for the one who helped her survive the Fall.The Red Hood finds herself trapped in a twisted version of her past, enduring suffering at the hands of those she once called dear friends.Both inevitably sinking further and further into the clutches of a madman





	1. Black and White

Ruby could still feel the horrible pain of something burning into her legs as she looked around at the burning remains of her school, reminding her of the chaos that had led up to that point:

An accusation of violence against her sister, by a seemingly innocent man.

The loss of a friend that simply wanted to live as free as a real girl should, only to be cut down before her dream could be realized.

“ _It’s not fair, the Vytal Festival was just supposed to be a chance for us to test our skills against people from another school, maybe even make some new friends.”_ It was then that the scenery changed around the red-hooded Huntress again, her nostrils filling with the smell of smoke as the once-bustling Vytal Festival was now consumed in a frenzy of fire and screams as the Grimm began attacking civilians.

“I won’t let you hurt anyone!” Ruby would snarl as she unfolded Crescent Rose and began hacking away at the beasts as she was trained to, the Grimm were her natural enemy even before her world went to hell. “As long as I have the power to stop you, I’ll give it everything I got!” The crimsonette-haired young woman would continue to mow down her beastly foes as if were second nature, determined to solve the mystery behind it all. “Once I get through all of you, I’ll find that monster in the cloak and finally put an end to his little rampage!”

“ _You honestly think you have a chance against someone like that, he’s a madman you know?”_ Ruby would cut down the Beowulf standing in front of her before turning back to see a person clad in a white cloak, for an instant she thought of her mother: maker of cookies, slayer of monsters, the supreme huntress Summer Rose. “ _But then again, there’s always a method to a person’s madness. A sorrow buried underneath the mania.”_

Ruby would shake her head incredulously at the man’s words, her friends had been injured in the beginning stages of Beacon’s fall, and one had lost her life. “You’re insane. No matter what the reason for it was, there’s no way to justify the loss of a person’s life!” She would raise her scythe to the white-clad individual, anger and hatred painting her sight in a piercing crimson. “I don’t care if it’s the saddest sob story ever conjured, or if it’s done for the sake of some great justice, I **will** make that monster pay!” The crimsonette-haired girl would strike at the white-cloaked person, gasping in shock when a spray of white rose petals greeted her instead as she leapt back and tensed her body for battle as more growls could be heard from around her.

“ _But even then, that won’t bring back anyone that you lost that day, no matter how many Grimm you take out, or however many black-cloaked weirdos you run up on: Penny will still be scrap, Pyrrha will still be missing, and the rest will either be in the wind or in the ground.”_

Ruby would let out a snarl of anger as she bifurcated a beowolf in mid-leap and looked around for the source of her tormentor, only seeing a second white cloaked man at the top of the stairs leading into the academy, but this one seemed to be fighting against the Grimm with nothing but a badly battered shield.

“Hang on!” Ruby would make her way to the steps in a burst of speed, repelling every Grimm that got in her way and slamming aside the Ursa that was pinning the poor soul to the ground. “Are you okay?” She would look down to see that her “innocent” was now holding a sword to her throat, the cloak changing from white to gray to an unsettling black.

“Still the same immature brat as ever, always believing in the kindness of people even after they prove you wrong.” The cloaked murder would snatch Crescent Rose away from her and toss it aside, even as the Grimm continued to close in on them. “When are you going to understand that the world is a cruel and evil place Rubes, heroes don’t always win the day, the bad guys aren’t always out to wreck the world.” With a snap of his fingers, stone golems would rise from the ground as he kept the point of his blade at her throat and guided her inside the academy.

“You really think I care about how messed up the world is to **you?!** You’re a psychopath who attacked us without even giving us a reason why you’re doing it!!!” The crimsonette would glare at her captor with a molten silver glare of hatred, a throbbing pain beginning to build up in the back of her skull as her fists clenched in anger. “My friends are dead because of you, Beacon is destroyed, because of you!!” Ruby’s indignance would be rewarded with a slap to her cheek before feeling the familiar sting of concrete being stabbed into her legs once more.

“Idiot! I thought I was doing you a service by saving you from the pain of death, but it appears you need to be reminded just how bad things in this world were fated to be.” He would unfold the scythe and raise it high to strike the now frightened crimsonette down. “Hopefully when we meet again, your eyes will be opened to the truth.”

* * * * *

Weiss was used to her training sessions with Winter being inside the walls of their spacious mansion, going over the fundamentals of form, accuracy, and summoning (even though the heiress seemed less then keen on that aspect) but this time was very different from their normal routine.

She now stood outside in the cold night air, her Myrtenaster holstered at her side as a cold burst of air blew past her as she felt the beginnings of goosebumps appear on her pale ivory skin as she surveyed her surroundings: it was a wide-open area, leaving her with no options for stealth but plenty of opportunity for movement with her glyphs.

“ _Not a bad thought process Princess, but you’re thinking checkers and I know for a fact that big sis is rocking the chess board.”_ The pale-haired Huntress would gasp as she heard the voice’s words, ever since the Fall of Beacon it had been a constant ghost at her side, advising her through the rockier interactions with her family and those who questioned herself and the few survivors of the attack. “ _You need to stop leaning on movement glyphs and evasive tactics, numbers and brute strength may be problems you’ll encounter in the future.”_ She would shake her head furiously at his continued advice, even as a part of seemed to agree with his words as another flurry of cold advanced upon her and ghostly white versions of Beowolves began to approach the young woman.

“Just..shut up.” Weiss would grit her teeth and begin fighting off the pale-wolves with ease, her movements at times resembling a dancer in her natural environment. Her movements graceful to watch, but deadly to the touch as Grimm dissipated in a shower of white specks of light as she twirled and spin through the beasts surrounding her. “Simple, effective-“She was so full of pride over her quick defeat of Winter’s summons that she failed to notice the second wave, an Ursa knocking her to the ground and sending Myrtenaster skidding out of her hands despite her sudden reach for it.

 _“Sloppy.”_ The voice would speak with a hint of mirth as the Ursa began to surround her, but before one paw could make contact with her person, she would already be making glyphs to propel her out of danger and vaulting towards her lost weapon with a slight breath of relief. “ _Now you’re thinking like a chess man-er, person!”_

Weiss couldn’t help but giggle at his sudden backpedaling, for a voice in her head it was very apparent that he felt strongly about her despite the fact that they had yet to officially meet. “You dork, I told you that this was going to be simple.” She would spin the wheel of her Dust chamber and settle on Ice, stabbing the tip of her rapier into the ground and smiling as spears of ice embedded themselves into the lumbering beasts and watching in satisfaction as they faded away. “And that’s a wrap.”

She would curtsy to her invisible spectator, as if her mental companion were somewhere nearby and watching her performance.

“You’re dead.” Weiss would gasp, feeling the familiar chill of Winter’s weapon at her back as she forced herself to stay calm and assess her escape options. Her sister had more experience with the power of Glyphs, not to mention that a new wave of Grimm were now steadily appearing before her. “You let your guard down Weiss, if I were the enemy then you would’ve been run through without a second thought!” The older woman would take the rapier from her younger sibling and shove her to the ground, dispelling her summoned creatures before walking off, ignoring the younger woman’s withering glare.

“I don’t know what exactly happened to you when Beacon went under, but anger and contempt won’t change anything. You need to keep focused on the task at hand.” With one last glance over her shoulder to assess her sister’s condition, Winter would saunter back inside.

“Like you did, when you abandoned me to deal with Jacques and his spoiled little clum baby we call a brother?” Weiss would spit this quietly as she got back to her feet, a familiar warmth draping itself over her shoulders as she felt the weight of a black cloak. “It figures you’d pick **now** to show up and save me.”

“Gimmie a break princess, your sister’s a ballbuster-both in the metaphorical and literal sense.” She laughed softly while breathing in his familiar scent, wanting nothing more than to let it carry her away to a happier place. “By the way, you’re about to wake up.”

Weiss would gasp again, wanting desperately to finally put a face to her dream savior even though the world around her would be filled with the annoying blare of the alarm from her scroll.

“FUCK!” The pale-haired heiress would sit up suddenly, clenching her scroll violently as she briefly considered flinging it against the wall. “…Alone again.”

* * * * *

Ruby would scream aloud as she woke up from her nightmare, but instead of finding herself in a hospital recovering from her injuries, she was surrounded by folks she called friends but now looked upon her as a stranger.

“Wow Rubes, I didn’t expect you to fall asleep on the ride to our new school, guess you’re still a bit of a kid at heart.” The crimsonette-haired girl could barely believe what she was seeing: Her sister was alive and well, as were her friends, but perhaps the most jarring sight of all was the one that awaited her as she turned to look out the bullhead’s window.

Beacon Academy, completely restored to its pristine glory.

Just as it was on the very first day she attended it.


	2. Twisted World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby sees a much harsher version of her first day, while Weiss thinks back on what she remembers of Beacon's Fall

Ruby couldn’t believe it.

Not only was Beacon back to its former (less devastated) state, but it seemed like she had somehow gone back in time to the first day, her instincts screamed at her that it was impossible, and yet she was looking straight at it nonetheless.

“Keep moving newbies!!!” Ruby would be shocked out of her stupor by the sounds of people walking past her and off the bullhead, a few of them sparing a glance at her as the made to disembark. “Get the lead out of your asses and line up, Professor Goodwitch has zero tolerance for slackers!” The crimsonette felt her heart beating faster as the sound of the voice was becoming all too familiar to the young woman.

“ _I don’t understand what’s going on, how is it possible that I’ve gone back IN TIME to the first day!?”_ The little red hood would shudder as she remembered the excruciating pain in her legs as she felt the embrace of someone she couldn’t place, the feeling of panic as she tried to break free and remove whatever was burrowing into her bones. “ _Everything was burning! Penny..Oh Penny.”_ Her silver eyes filled with tears as she remembered seeing her android friend literally falling to pieces, the wires connected to her person tearing through her body and exposing the wires beneath the façade of an enthusiastic young woman who was “Combat Ready”.

“-uby? Ruby?? Ruby!” She couldn’t believe that she had spaced out once again as the Huntress to-be looked up to find her golden-haired sibling looking as concerned as their father would be whenever she went out alone, it was very out of character for the free-wheeling adventurer that she remembered Yang as. “You need to get up, we can’t afford to be the last ones off the boat..we can’t afford to be seen as weak to the upperclassmen, especially not here at Beacon.”

The older woman would drag the still-startled red hood to her feet, her brow furrowing again as Ruby stumbled and fell to the floor. She couldn’t trust her legs to be intact given the torture she had endured, but Yang refused to let her sister gather her bearings and instead offered her a shoulder to lean on as they made their way off the bullhead.

“ _Why would Yang be so worried about us looking weak, and why does she make it sound like a death sentence?”_ As Ruby continued to ponder the changes in her sister’s personality, the pair would pass by a familiar young man: A blonde-haired knight who didn’t take the ride there all too well, someone who was seen by a goof to those with more experience, but to her he was a trusted friend. “ _Jaune! He’s still the same Vomit Boy he was before, good to see some things here haven’t changed.”_ She would try to reach out and console him, to let him know that things would get much better for him as time passed, but Yang would jerk her away and continue on their way out. “Y-Yang, hold on! We should take him with us, so he doesn’t get left behind!”

“And have us **all** counted as dead last? Don’t be stupid!” The usually lovely lilac eyes of her sister would briefly flash red as they finally felt the fresh air of Beacon’s landing dock, quickly getting in formation beside the rest of the passengers as Coco Adel and the rest of Team CFVY looked on intently. “Shit, I was really hoping it wouldn’t be CFVY welcoming us..definitely feel sorry for whoever’s dead last now.”

Ruby could hardly believe how callous her older sister sounded, turning back to see a still-squeamish looking Jaune Arc stumbling onto the docks just as Fox Alistair dragged the fair-haired young man by his scruff as they made their way back to the front with the rest of the third-year team.

      “Well well well, so we only have one slacker this year? Good to know that the combat schools are **finally** beating a sense of urgency into you scabs.” Coco would turn to Jaune slowly and look him up and down carefully, appraising him like a perspective buyer would look over a painting at an art gallery. “Somebody didn’t take to traveling well did they, you’re as green as a string bean.” She would pat his cheek playfully like a parent would do to their child whenever they did something adorable, seemingly willing to let his tardiness slide as she turned to address the rest of the students but before she could even begin to give her usual opening speech.

“ _Glurk!!!”_ Jaune would spew up a mixture of vomit and the remains of his bowl of Pumpkin Pete’s cereal, the milk, and whatever stomach fluids he hadn’t left on the bullhead. The rest of the students would gasp in shock as it all hit Coco’s expensive looking boots. “S-sorry!” The fair-haired knight seemed genuinely repentant for what had occurred, unfortunately that would provide little solace to the livid fashionista.

“Do you know how expensive these boots are?! What I had to **do** in order to get a discount?!” Coco would snarl and smack Jaune to the floor with her handbag, smirks as she saw the blood oozing from his split lip. “Now, since I’m assuming this is your breakfast..how about seconds?” She would hold out a vomit covered boot to the quaking freshman, chuckling as he tried to scramble away only to be surrounded by the rest of her team. “Now, how about seconds?”

While Ruby couldn’t see what the older classmen were doing to her friend, she didn’t need a clear line of sight to figure out that he needed help. “Jaune!” The crimsonette-haired girl would race through the formation of students with ease as she ran past them like a blood red blur, saving her friend from an impending beatdown and coming face to face with her seniors. “What’s the matter with you all, I know that it’s tradition to pick on the new kid, but this isn’t right?” The silver-eyed girl would look to Velvet for some kind of backup, but she would nothing but a steely-eyed arrogance followed by a boot to her face as she cried out in pain and hit the ground.

“ _When are you gonna grow up Little Red, open those special little eyes and see the light!”_ Ruby would wince as she looked up to see the white cloaked figure from her nightmares looking down at her, the taunting tone in his voice would be in direct contrast to the look of disappoint on his face. “ _You’re so much better than this, you just need to let go of that hero complex.”_

She wanted desperately to stand up and counter his argument, but as darkness slowly creeped in as she fell into unconsciousness once again.

* * * * *

Weiss would look at herself in the full-length mirror that resided in her bathroom, taking note of every blemish and scar that was on her person and finding nothing out of the ordinary.

Yet something had changed, it just wasn’t something that was visible to the naked eye as she allowed her hand to wander down to where her would was located as she remembered the doctor’s words with alarming clarity.

“ _It appears that your daughter truly is one of the lucky few Mr. Schnee, she’s not physically damaged in the slightest, however..”_ It seemed very strange that the doctor seemingly hesitated despite giving the heiress a miraculous clean bill of health, even worse was the fact that her father seemed more irritated than concerned at the prospect of there being some sort of complication. “ _To be perfectly frank sir, I feel this is something that should be discussed with Madam Willow instead.”_ Rather than acquiesce to the whim of a medical professional, Jacques would stand his ground and glare down at the physician like she was one of his lower level employees whose job was on the chopping block.

Winter’s forehead would furrow in concern as she seemingly connected the unspoken dots and nodded quietly. “ _Father, I think what Dr. Ivy means is that this..particular matter calls for more of a feminine touch, one that I would be glad to supply in place of our mother.”_ The doctor seemed relieved by the older woman’s intervention, even as Weiss herself seemed to fear the worst as alarm bells sounded off in the back of her mind.

 _“I suppose that would be best in this situation.”_ The pale-haired business magnate seemed frustrated by having to exit the examination room and face what was no doubt one of the biggest catastrophes in terms of the Schnee Dust Company’s storied history: The Atleasian machines that had gone haywire during the Vytal Festival was a joint venture between Atlas’s R&D Department as well as their own company and people were already demanding answers. “ _But you **will** report back with what happened, am I clear Winter?” _ Jacques would leave the room without giving the pale-haired woman time to respond, leaving his daughters to face whatever sobering news awaited them on their own.

 _“Miss Schnee, I beg your pardon for being so blunt but..have you been sexually active with anyone recently?”_ The room would fall silent as both women would digest the enormity of the question, the Schnee women were driven souls, focused on whatever goal they wished to achieve. “ _I only ask because your physical examination showed signs of-“_

 _“Then your tests were wrong! My sister would never waste time fraternizing with some **boy!** ” _The older sibling would stand up with indignation burning in her steel-gray eyes as she balled her fists at her sides, Winter had seen the kind of evil that those snake charmers called men were capable of and knew that Weiss was smart enough to avoid such pitfalls. “ _Tell her Weiss!”_

The younger woman could feel their stares baring down upon her small frame, and as much as she wanted to put her sister’s worries to rest and put this humiliating moment behind her.

Unfortunately; her memory would inform her otherwise as flashes of herself rolling around in bed with a boy from a different academy could be seen as she closed her eyes, yet she felt far from repulsed by what was being shown to her, if anything she felt her pulse begin to race and her heart skip a beat at the feeling of bliss she was witnessing.

“ _Actually, there was this one guy..from one of the other schools.”_ Weiss would wince as she felt Winter’s hand connecting with her cheek, and while her body seemed to be expecting the hit purely based on muscle memory, her heart would feel a deep sorrow as her sister seemingly turned her back on the younger heiress. “ _Winter, you don’t understand. He was so kind, so gentle-“_ A second slap would silence any further words from the young Huntress in-training as her older sibling seeming tried to stare a hole through the heiress’s skull.

“ _Do you realize how stupid you sound right now?! A woman of your status allowing herself to be taken to bed like some low-class harlot, and by a stranger to boot!”_ The older woman was seething despite being held back by the autumn-haired doctor, even as Weiss continued to rub her cheek in shock at what had just transpired- it was literally the first page of Jacques Schnee’s unofficial guidebook on How to Raise a Child. “ _You of all people know just what kind of disgusting machinations that men are capable of, and you still making the same fucking mistake as our mother!”_

Weiss would sigh as she stared at her reflection for a moment longer before finally stepping into the shower and letting the cold water wash over her as she closed her eyes once again, feeling the soft sheets of her bed as he laid her down and gave a shy smile.

 _“Just so you know princess, this is gonna be my first go at this..sort of thing so-“_ She would pull him down to the bed by the hood of his cloak with a lust-filled snarl, it was something that was far from her usual nature of being prim and proper. “ _Shut up and kiss me you dunce.”_ Everything about that night had been a far cry from her usual self: Taking to the dance floor with a stranger and cutting a rug when the jazz music started to play, letting her hair down (both metaphorically and literally) and acting flirty towards this nameless boy, and even now she had taken him back to her dorm to claim the richest prize a Schnee could give (That couldn’t be bought with money anyhow.)

“You’re wrong Winter, not every man is terrible.” Her mind would shift to the horrors of The Fall, her friends were either dead or dying around her, but she was willing to stand to the end against the reprogrammed Atlesian Paladin in front of her. She switched the rotating Dust Chambers of her Myrtenaster and frowned as she heard an audible click from every one of them. “Especially someone like him.”

The Paladin would ready its beam cannon to finish her off even as she used her glyphs to stay away from the machine’s targeting computers and trying to formulate an escape plan, gritting her teeth as shots whizzed past her as she kept moving in patterns to keep from getting hit. “ _I can’t keep this up forever, my body’s already exhausted from fighting off those machines.”_ Her mind would briefly flash to her friend and team leader Ruby Rose, who had yet to be seen in the entirety of the fray.

The ground in front of her would burst into pieces, disrupting the movements of her glyphs and sending her tumbling to the ground in a heap as a group of the much smaller and faster Atleasian Knights surrounded her. “ _N-no, it can’t end like this!”_ Weiss would shut her eyes tightly, awaiting the inevitable conclusion to her young seventeen years of life. “ _I guess father was right, I should’ve stayed in Atlas.”_

The shots would never come, instead there was the sounds of shouting, metal on metal, and eventually dead silence as she slowly opened her eyes to find the boy from before hovering over her with an oversized broadsword in his hands and a blood-stained katana strapped to his side.

“ _I know knights are supposed to wear shining armor, but you’ll have to forgive me this time princess..but I’ve been through Hell.”_ As he turned to smile at her, she would see the scrapes and cuts lining his face as she held back a gasp of horror as the Paladin from earlier began charging its energy cannon once again. “ _Yeah, I know..I probably look like a ghoul right now but it can’t get any worse than this-“_

 _“Look out!”_ Weiss would use another Glyph to move him of the line of fire, the cannon finally shooting its heavy laser in her direction, once again awaiting her destruction as her Aura finally gave way.

“ _Not gonna happen buddy!”_ His voice would break through the darkness of defeat as she heard something skid to a stop near her hand, grasping it instinctively as she opened her eyes to find her savior shielding her from the cannon blast with his sword and grimacing in agony. “ _Get going! I’ll keep this up as long as I can, so make a break for it princess!!!”_

She could see the muscles in his hands and arms straining to keep a grip on the oversized blade’s hilt, the heiress knew damn well that there was no weapon on Remnant that could deflect such a massive blast and stay intact. The metal in the blade itself was probably near or at its melting point, sure she could run and save her own life, but it would mean having to carry the guilt of knowing that someone else gave their life for her when she had a way to fight.

“ _Sorry in advance!”_ She would unsheathe the katana and take a running leap off of her savior’s back as she sailed through the air toward the Paladin, her cold blue eyes fully focused on destroying the machine and saving his life. “ _But I am not about to be a damsel in distress anymore!”_ She would slash at the machine’s tubes, wiring, anything that wasn’t covered by high tech plating until her arms were screaming in pain and she could slash no more as the paladin fell silent.

“ _You’re nuts, you’re absolutely nuts.”_ Weiss would look over to see the cloaked young man’s blade heated to an angry red as his hands were covered in terrible burns, but his smile still stood resolute as a true knight would in such a situation. “ _I knew you were something special Miss Schnee, after all..no ordinary woman could wield that blade.”_

The heiress would look at the katana in her hand with an eyebrow raised skeptically, the blade glowed eerily as it caught the moonlight’s reflection causing her to nearly drop it before her leg reflexively reacted and kicked the katana into her waiting free hand.

“ _How did? My body just moved on its own!”_ She gasped as she felt a hand resting on her tattered bolero jacket, followed by the smell of burnt flesh hitting her nostrils. “ _Y-you shouldn’t be moving right now, you’re badly hurt-“_

The sound of her sword being slid into its scabbard was surprisingly melodic, like a well-trained songstress singing an aria. Something she knew that her own voice was capable of as she had displayed it during many a charity concert.

“ _I told you, you’re something- SOMEONE special Weiss, just like my older sister was”_ The cloaked man would laugh bitterly as he stared at the blade in her hands, almost as if it were something he hated. “ _She was the one the Academy accepted, I was just her goofy little brother trying to play hero.”_

Weiss would be snapped back to reality by the sound of knocking on her bathroom door, growling at having her private time interrupted as she had been confined to living on a tight schedule since having returned to Atlas.

“I still have five minutes of privacy, please go away!” The heiress had to bite back a long string of curses that was unfit for someone of her upbringing, shaking the water out of her like a wet dog before turning the water off and deciding to wring out whatever was left while gazing at the sheathed katana that stood silently by her mirror. “I wish I could remember your name, or even which academy you were from.”

She could feel the heat rise to her cheeks as she remembered their carnal time together, the firmness of his hands was such that she should have been bruised, but rather it felt like she was being molded as their bodies became attuned to one another over time.

“Dust help me, I **will** find you.” She would dress quickly, ignoring the minute scar on her hip and giving her best impression of his winning smile before strapping the katana to her side. “And when I do, we’re going to have a nice long laugh over **my** being the knight in a combat skirt.”

The knocking would begin again, her smile evaporating as she faced the door with a look of determination, she refused to once again let herself be treated like a damsel being cooped up in her father’s mansion.

It was time for her to take the first step forward.


	3. Shifting the Balance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss takes back command of her birthright while Ruby's grip on reality begins to slip.

Ruby would gasp as she bolted awake to find herself in the infirmary, a worried Yang looking down at her even as the throbbing of her headache was like a beating drum bearing down upon her skull.

“Yang..? What happened, I had this horrible dream that we were back at our first day of Beacon. Only everyone was really mean, and Jaune threw up on Coco’s boots and then Velvet kicked me in the face-“ She would stop talking as her sister hugged her tightly, as if she had escaped a near-death experience instead of just getting her bell rung by someone she considered a friend.

“I assure you Miss Rose, that you are indeed sitting in our academy’s infirmary on your first day. And that the boy known as Jaune Arc was summarily dismissed from our hallowed grounds, his transcripts turned out to be forgeries..and I don’t appreciate being lied to.” Ruby’s ears would perk up at the familiar yet stern voice that belonged to the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, the silver-haired Professor Ozpin would step out of the shadows while taking a sip of his usual coffee. “Miss Xiao Long; if you would please wait outside, I have things that I need to discuss with your sister in private.” His words may have been phrased in the shape of a request, but the sharp edge of command was hard to be missed as the blonde brawler hesitantly pulled away.

“But sir, my sister’s still recovering from a concussion! She needs to rest!” Yang’s lilac eyes would briefly flash red at the thought of being separated from her sister after watching her being treated like garbage by the upperclassmen. “Anything you have to say to her you can damn well say in front of me!” The crimsonette-haired Huntress would feel unnerved at the defiance she was hearing from the older woman, she had always been more of a free-spirit but never openly defied authority like she was doing now.

“Perhaps you would like to have a private orientation instead, since you and Ruby were exempt from my usual opening speech due to Miss Rose’s injuries.” The headmaster was visibly gripping his cup tighter then any sane person should, as if he were fighting to restrain his own anger. “I hear Professor Port has an opening right about now, and you seem to be just along his lines of preference.” He would raise a knowing eyebrow as if to dare her to press her luck, it wouldn’t be the first time he had sent a “troublesome student” into Port’s clutches, and he had long since stopped caring about how much of a mess that Peter made while “disciplining” the individual in question.

“It’s okay Yang, I think I could handle a few questions from Professor Ozpin without my head exploding like a grape.” Ruby would do her best to giggle and lighten the mood, even as Yang’s worries seemed far from eased as she slowly stood up from the chair she had been sitting in. “Please sis, I’ll be okay.”

The blonde-haired beauty would give the slightest of nods as she made her way out of the room, but not before she decided to give one last “fuck you” as she bumped Ozpin’s shoulder roughly on the way out. Savoring the grunt of annoyance as he was no doubt covered in what was left of his coffee, it was a small victory for her, but the bigger war was still at hand.

 She would not let Summer’s fate be repeated with Ruby.

* * * * *

“You want me to sing at a benefit concert, like I’m some windup toy!?” Weiss was already annoyed at having been summoned by her father like some rank and file servant, but the prospect of having to sing for a crowd of self-entitled, rich assholes was literally on the lower end of things she would endure. “Go hire some pop tart, I have more important business to attend to.”

Jacques would feel his blood boil at his daughter’s newfound attitude, it was as if Beacon’s fall had served to ignite a longstanding tension between them that he had long thought crushed. No doubt her excursion to Vale had served to rekindle her rebellious spirit, and that meant once again having to break her.

“Oh yes I’m rather aware of this “business” you seem to be pursuing as of late: Private investigators, organized search parties, nearly two dozen different online searches for a “black cloaked Huntsman” and a “Cardinal Blaque”. Jacques would slide a stack of papers in her direction, allowing her to look at the long list of expenditures that had been charged to the account that held the young woman’s inheritance. “Now I don’t know what Willow was thinking allowing you access to that account, but this frivolous spending ends now, I will not have you depleting our family funds on some pointless goose chase for one of your foolish friends!”

Weiss couldn’t help but laugh at his words, knowing better than to let him rattle her and blow her stack on frenzied and emotional outbursts. “I’m sorry, I do believe I misheard you, But I will spend **MY** family’s funds where I see fit. You seem to forget that the Schnee Dust Company is my BIRTHRIGHT, not some personal piggy bank to be used by some schmuck who married into it!” She had leaned in closer to the pale-haired patriarch, seeing the smoldering embers of rage in his eyes before suddenly feeling a sharp pain in her cheek before stepping back to see Jacques rising from his chair as he rolled up the sleeves of his business suit. “Big mistake!” The heiress would grit her teeth and summon a glyph to force his desk back against him until he was pinned between it and the wall, giving a satisfied smirk as he tried to struggle free.

 _“_ Weiss, you will release me this instant!” The older man would be seething visibly as he tried to push his own desk back, unaware that the glyph was keeping it from budging an inch. “I am your father and the head of this company and I will be treated as such!”

“Oh but I am treating you the way you deserve to be treated: the very same way you’ve treated every little company you’ve crushed underfoot on your path to power, by making them feel helpless and weak, like they had no choice but to give into your demand to sell out.” She would unsheathe her katana and point it straight at the patriarch’s eye with an empty smile, tempted to finally put an end to his heavy-handed tyranny then and there. “Now here’s how things are going to work from now on, you’re gonna be my pretty little figurehead. As far as Atlas is concerned, Jacques **Gelé** will still be known as the head of the SDC, but business operations will be handled by a third party of my choosing.” She couldn’t help but feel euphoric at the way his eyes bugged out at the mention of his former last name, having to keep herself from skewering his eye on her blade like an olive on the end of a kabob.

“Don’t think you can get away with this you stupid child, every servant and security guard on this property answers to me. The instant you step foot outside this office you’ll be pinned down like a fly to the wall!” He would grimace in pain as the desk continued to crush against his abdomen even tighter as he looked into the eyes of his youngest daughter, surprised to see a wild and vengeful warrior in place of his formerly obedient daughter. “What in the name of Oum happened to you during that catastrophe?” Jacques would blink as he saw a brief flash of red in her eyes, as if she were on the brink of going mad.

“What happened? WHAT HAPPENED?!” She would grit her teeth angrily before sheathing her weapon and walking out of the room, only releasing the glyph keeping him pinned against the desk once she locked eyes with General James Ironwood who was now sporting a manly stubble of facial hair. “How much of that did you hear?”

“Enough to know that you’re a woman on a mission, and that there isn’t a force on Remnant that you’ll let stand in your way.” The military man who was also the Headmaster of Atlas Academy would glance down at the katana in the heiress’s possession, the Schnee family crest now firmly emblazoned on its sheath. “That’s quite the interesting sword Miss Schnee, but as I recall you used to use a rapier.” He would raise a questioning eyebrow as she gave him a nonchalant shrug in response to his words, but then allowed herself the smallest of frowns.

“I lost Myrtenaster when Beacon fell, but I was lucky enough to receive Shiraiyuki from the Huntsman who helped me survive. I only wish I knew what had become of him.” Weiss would bite her lip anxiously as she remembered the burn wounds on his hands, hoping against hope that he managed to escape to safety. “May I ask why you’re here today sir?”

This time it was the good General’s turn to smile as he held out a simple brown package for the heiress, giving a gracious nod as she took it from him without much comment. “Your sister asked me to deliver this to you, please open it in private.” He would straighten out his tie as he placed his hand on the door of Jacques’ office and taking a breath as a long string of curses from the other side, the older man biting back one of his own as he glanced back at her. “I’m also here to deliver some news to your father regarding the council’s decision regarding Atlas’s borders, and it sounds like he’s in the perfect mood for this kind of news.”

 When she finally returned to the safety of her bedroom Weiss was quick to open the package that Winter had Ironwood deliver to her, surprised to see a pregnancy test snuggly fit inside of the box along with a hastily written note.

“ _No complaints, just take it.”_

* * * * *

  Ruby would watch Professor Ozpin pacing back and forth carefully, the spectacled man having said nothing for the entirety of the five minutes they had been left alone together with the coffee stain on his jacket did little more than anger him further as he finally turned to her.

“Miss Rose, you seem to be under the impression that your tenure here will be something akin to your carefree days at Signal: Combat classes, friendship, perhaps even a sashay during a school function ne?” The silver-haired Headmaster would give a small spin simply to animate his point, only to stop and shatter his coffee mug by throwing it across the room.

“Well, allow me to be the barer of bad news: We are in the middle of a crisis with the Grimm, and what I need are **soldiers**. Not idealistic little children who look at this as nothing more than a game, or a stepping stone on their supposed road to glory.”

Ruby would wince at the man’s sharp-tongued rhetoric, while the Ozpin in her memories was also one to forego sugarcoating things to students on their first day, the man in front of her was being uncharacteristically forceful with his words and actions.

 “I understand that Professor, and I wanna do everything I can to help defeat the Grimm as a Huntress. What I don’t get is how Beacon is completely intact when the last I remember seeing was Grimm rampaging everywhere and then-“ The silver-eyed Huntress would gasp as she tried to remember the man in the black cloak, only recalling the searing pain in her legs, along with the angry snarls of monsters.

Ozpin would simply push his glasses back up to his nose as he gave a dissatisfied snort at her shoddy recollection of events. “Miss Rose, what you just described is simply preposterous. There is no conceivable way that the Grimm could ever hope to breach Beacon Academy, we have military grade shielding that prevents us from being attacked from the skies, mountainous terrain that prevents us from being approached by land, and in the unlikely event that we do find ourselves under assault, a whole gaggle of failures and wannabes to serve as distraction.”

He would stare into those coveted silver eyes as if he were witnessing a pair of gleaming jewels embedded in a fleshy statue, instead of addressing the clearly frightened teenager that was Ruby Rose. “You just need to be a good little girl and harness those special eyes of yours like you were taught back at Signal, or else you’ll be a more worthless sacrifice than your dearly departed mother was.

The crimsonette could barely stomach her disgust at how someone she admired had callously reduced her very own mother to nothing more than a physical aspect, the beginnings of a bone-crushing headache were baring down upon her as tears stung at her eyes as Ozpin gave a devilish smile.

“ _Do it. He insulted your mother, he deserves to die for what he said!”_ It was the first time she had heard such a dark voice inside her head, yet she was tempted to let loose and do exactly as it desired. “ _Your mom was a hero, yet Ozpin speaks of her like she was some two-bit lady of the night! Hurt. Him!”_

“Take it back…” Ruby would shake her head angrily, trying to silence both the terrible whispers and the pain that threatened to overwhelm her as she looked around for Crescent Rose, seeing it near her precious hood and making a dive for it as she quickly unfolded it into its scythe form. “My mother is not worthless!!!” She would snarl and charge at the demented Ozpin, swinging to separate his head from his shoulders.

“RUBY STOP!!!” The reaper would skid to a sudden stop at the sound of a very familiar voice, now finding herself face to face with her horrified sibling. Crescent Rose’s edge dangerously close to decapitating the closest thing she had to a mother, causing her to sob in horror as she let go of her weapon. “Yang, I-I didn’t..Ozpin..Mom. He said such awful things about our mom!”

The two sisters would embrace amidst shared tears, the blonde dragon doing her best to comfort her tortured sibling as a white cloaked individual watched on quietly hesitating on whether he should shatter their moment of peace.

“ _She’s shaken, but not broken.”_ The stranger would look to his trembling left hand, balling it into a tight fist as he tried to quell the tremors “ _I can’t keep this up forever.”_


	4. Shield & Sword

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two halves of the future Team RWBY meet under very different circumstances: White tempts Yellow with the quick fix to her search for answers while Red finds comfort in a different shade of Black.

The red-hooded girl would look up at the ceiling of Beacon Academy’s ballroom, her thoughts squarely focused on what exactly Ozpin had said about her.

“He said I had “special eyes”, demanded that I used something I have no idea of even activating, all for what: Defeating the Grimm? Being the hero of a school that used so many as meat shields?” Ruby would sigh tiredly as she pictured the spectacled from her memories, yes he had always been enigmatic and seemingly distant but his kindness towards his students was always known. “This isn’t right, I know what I saw that night!” Ruby could still feel the crushing heartbreak of witnessing Penny’s demise, Yang’s attack against Mercury, and the pain..that searing pain throughout her legs.

“ _Are you sure that’s what happened, weren’t those events well **after** your first day of school? And yet here you are, back to day one..no friends, an overprotective sister, and an evil headmaster.” _The dark voice from earlier would return, a smug tone in her words and she continued to speak. “ _I think it’s pretty clear that we’re not home anymore! So, it’s about time you grew a set and realized just how fucked you are!”_

She wasn’t used to having a dark passenger inside of her head, especially since that was a place reserved for her vast array of knowledge on weaponry and cookies. And yet here she was: a supposed Huntress-in-training in a much harsher version of the academy she had come to know, her fellow team members were noticeably absent, and the people she would later come to respect were now heartless and cruel-minded caricatures of who they should be.

“ _You’re still thinking about how this doesn’t add up aren’t you, how Yang was supposed to have ditched you for her cadre of shadow people she called friends right before you bumped into Weiss and her luggage cart.”_ The young reaper would shake her head in frustration as she tried to dispel the voice in her head, it had been nagging at her throughout the remainder of the day with how things at Beacon weren’t going to go any differently from before and that she would only be forced to see history repeat itself. “ _Then Blake would just suddenly appear and call her out on her haughty bullshit, but none of that happened today now did it?”_

The crimsonette would growl in annoyance as she tried to shake off the remnants of her head injury, she hoped that this voice was just another result of this.

“ _Think about it: these things that were supposed to happen didn’t, not to mention that Team CFVY are acting like hopped up military jerks while our sister’s as overprotective as our father was when we were a toddler.”_

Ruby would get up from her sleeping bag and start making her way to what she hoped was the bathroom, only to find two men in black suits standing guard by the door as she made her way to grab the handle.

“Bathroom’s occupied kid. Go find somewhere else to take a tinkle.” One of the muscle-bound mooks would smack her hand aside, the other man not so much as moving a muscle even as the crimsonette-haired girl would sigh in exasperation before deciding to use her Semblance to speed through the halls. “Damn, almost makes me wish I had a Semblance. Then again, my ma always said I wasn’t one for book learning.

“Some would say you still aren’t.” The second man would finally speak, his voice heavily synthesized by the voice box hidden under his shirt collar. His partner would give him an icy glare as the door between them opened with a sharp creak, the pair quickly standing at attention as a sandy-haired teen stumbled out of the restroom with a lovestruck look on his face and a flush in his cheeks. “Another one to explain to the boss I suppose.” The two suits would watch as the idiot in question sloppily made his way back to where all the other students were sleeping their last peaceful night of sleep, for tomorrow would be the initiation test to officially join Beacon Academy’s ranks.

“Fuck that, Joyless Jacques barely pays us enough to keep his little brat on schedule, what do I care if she wants to try some nose candy and have some fun?” The two men would fall silent as the woman in question stepped out, the bathroom in relatively pristine condition despite her own slightly disheveled demeanor. “Ma’am!”

“Ahh, nothing like a night romp to properly settle myself before bed.” Weiss would giggle as she finished smoothing out her hair before eventually settling on tying it into a ponytail and making her way out to the other students, her icy gaze looking out on her prospective teammates as the rules of the initiation test had yet to be laid out. “Look at all these useless cattle, all of them think themselves worthy enough to be called Huntsmen.” The heiress would calmly make her way back to the special area that she had set aside for her, complete with a rather plush looking bed for her leisure. “The only one here that is fit enough to be any sort of companion to me is that Pyrrha Nikos woman, and even then, it would probably take some convincing.” Weiss would scowl in disgust as she found a couple of girls huddled underneath the covers of her bed, she would snap her fingers to alert the hired muscle that her father had provided to her.

 “Alright ladies, this bed is private property.” The lead goon would produce a stun baton, grinning as the hum of electricity could be heard throughout the quiet dance hall. “Now ya got two choices: leave under your own power, and I shock the living piss out the both of you before my buddy here drags you out back like a couple of limp piñatas and takes a few practice swings.” He would point a pudgy thumb towards his associate, who was already swinging a novelty bat around listlessly, the two women would hastily scamper from beneath the sheets to safety while stepping on more than one sleeping student in the process.

“Ow! Who the fuck just stepped on me!?” Yang would bolt upward in shock; her leg still stinging from suddenly being trampled on as she looked around for the perpetrator, locking eyes with the pale-haired woman. “Were you the one behind that little stunt?!” The blonde bombshell would get to her feet and glare at the haughty looking girl, the two suits with her were already sizing her up with nonchalant gazes even as the pun-loving pugilist continued to march toward them.

“I wouldn’t try it sugar tits, unless you’re looking for a good time..then my buddy and I would be glad to service you.” The man had a beat of a sleazy vibe to him as he gently ran his hands through Yang’s golden locks, which seemed to glow brighter as she became more and more enraged by his hideous behavior. “Such a pretty little thing.”

She would respond with a snarl and grab the hand stroking her hair, squeezing hard enough to hear bones snap before delivering a vicious headbutt and dropping him like a sack of potatoes. Her lavender eyes would quickly turn red as she stepped back to avoid being shocked by the second man’s stun baton, delivering a stiff knee to his gut and ramming her fist into the side of his temple and watching him slump down on the side of the other girl’s bed. “Ya got any other tricks rich girl?”

Weiss would look at the still upset blonde before letting herself smile triumphantly, giving her a deliberately slow clap as the gears in her mind were already how trying to figure out how to wrangle the fighter into her service. “Impressive, those two were the best of my father’s personal security force. With skills like that you’ll no doubt go very far in this Academy.” The heiress would watch the other girl’s reaction, seeing no change in her aggressive demeanor before deciding to switch to a different tactic. “But have you given any thought about what comes after all this, surely you must have some idea with what you want to do after Beacon.”

Yang’s expression would change to one of apprehension, the search for her mother had been one of the things weighing on her heart and despite having to look after Ruby for much of her life she had never given up that quest.

“It must be something pretty important. With my family’s vast wealth and resources, I can give you whatever it is that you want, all I need in return is a little insurance in tomorrow’s initiation test.” Weiss would feel her odds of surviving the initiation test rising with each second that the brawler took to mull over her offer. “So, what do you say blondie, do we have a deal?”

* * * * *

A few days after the incident in Jacques’ office Weiss would find herself sitting at the head of her family’s dinner table, the tension in the room was thick as the patriarch of the Schnee family gave his daughter the cold stare he usually reserved for his business rivals.

Her brother Whitley would frown in thought, wondering how best to brave the situation that had now befallen his family. “Is..something the matter?” In the year that her sister had left the mansion to attend Beacon, the family had been running as smoothly as it ever had: Winter had given them enhanced prominence within the ranks of the military, his normally bothersome mother had spent her days drinking in the garden and her nights holed up her room. “Usually our family dinners aren’t so intense, after all my darling sister managed to survive such a harrowing incident. We should be joyful.”

Jacques would calmly wipe the bits of food that had stained his moustache before glancing over at his son apathetically. “Your dear sister seems to believe that she has some sort of authority over us due to having a Semblance, not that it’ll matter come tomorrow’s board meeting.” The pale-haired man would smile smugly as he finished the contents of his cup and gestured for one of the servants to refill his glass, the brandy doing to stem the feeling of indignation he felt towards his youngest daughter for trying to outdo him in the business world. “The gentleman on the SDC Board of Trustees were all handpicked by yours truly following the tragic passing of your grandfather Nicholas, there’s no way they would ever side with an upstart little whelp like you!”

Weiss for her part was nonplussed by the man’s continued boasting throughout the course of their meal together, the only thing that was gnawing at her was the fact that she had yet to take the pregnancy test that Winter had delivered to her (via Ironwood of all people) as well as the nagging suspicion that she was being watched throughout the course of her day. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be taking my meal elsewhere. Seems this room has gotten quite stuffy in here thanks to the amount of hot air and bullshit flying around.” The heiress would spare the tiniest of smirks as she gathered what remained of her plate and walked out of the dining room, ignoring the heated stare of her father as well as the bewildered stares of the others that watched her leave the room.

“Father, I don’t understand what’s going on.” He would keep his tone light and innocent as the help cleared away their plates, leaning towards his father to keep their conversation as private as possible. “You assured me that inheritance of this family would fall to me if Weiss continued to act out. Well I’d say we’re long past that stage old man!” Whitley, much like his father, had grand designs for the great Schnee legacy. Designs that would never see the light of day if his cunt of a sister continued to lord the family’s genetics over him, it was a crying shame that he carried his father’s penchant for normalcy or else he would’ve smacked down this impromptu rebellion with his own hands.

“Don’t you take that tone with me **boy** , once the board of trustee’s swats aside your sister’s pathetic attempts to wrest control of the company from me you’ll be given control of what’s rightfully yours-including the considerably deep coffers that come with it.” The two men would share a villainous laugh as the dessert course was brought out before them, neither man aware of the pale-haired woman listening in from the shadows as she quietly sipped from her wine glass.

* * * * *

Ruby would sigh in relief as she exited the restroom and looked around Beacon Academy in her quest to digest the endless volley of changes that she had witnessed, and hopefully find her way back to where the other students were sleeping.

“ _You can keep trying to process all this as hard as you want, it isn’t gonna change the fact that things aren’t gonna get any cheerier. We might as well call this place the Vale branch of the Atlesian military with how things are currently progressing.”_ Ruby would shake her head angrily as she tried to ignore the harsh voice of her unwanted companion, carefully walking through the dreary, blandly-colored halls of this Beacon. She remembered the halls being filled with sunlight and happy people, sure they were being trained to fight back against the creatures of Grimm but they were still allowed to be themselves. “ _And then that bitch Cinder went and ruined it. let the White Fang invade our school, turned the Atlas machines on us, she was the one behind all of this.”_

The crimsonette-haired girl would whimper and clap her hands over her ears as she tried to drown out the voice at all costs, even going so far as to dig her nails into her head as she started to weep. “Shut up, shut up, shut up! None of that happened, everyone’s alive!” The red-hooded girl would shake her head once more as her mind started to replay the chaos of Beacon Academy’s downfall, as well as the loss of a dear friend prior to the beginning of the end. “If this is really the beginning then I can stop all of it before it starts!

“ _It’s the beginning all right, but not of the world as you remember it! Think a little harder Red, even you can’t be this dense as to avoid the obvious!”_ The silver-eyed girl would gasp as she thought back to how the day had started: Racing to get off the Bullhead to avoid being counted last, how Coco had nearly forced Jaune to eat his own vomit from her boot before the red hood herself interfered, the talk with Ozpin and the crushing headache that had nearly caused her to snap and decapitate her own sibling. “ _You could’ve been the one to settle things with Cinder back at your little fancy schmancy dance, but you failed. And because of that, your friends were all-“_

Ruby would let out an anguished scream as the memories threatened to overwhelm her once again, gripping at her hair furiously until she felt a hand upon her shoulder. Gasping; she would instinctively turn and throw a punch at what she assumed was an enemy, feeling her blow land true as she opened her eyes to find a very familiar face staring back at her. “…Blake?”

The raven-haired Faunus girl would look at her with a quizzical expression as she wiped a small trickle of blood from her lower lip, almost as if she were impressed by the younger woman’s strength. “I’m sorry, have we met before? I heard screaming and rushed over thinking it was someone in trouble.” Blake would help Ruby to her feet, the younger would be Huntress looked frazzled beyond belief which worried the feline visibly. “You should really head back to where the others are sleeping, I’ve heard horrible stories about the initiation test at this academy and you’re going to need your wits about you if you plan on surviving.”

Ruby would just stare at the Faunus girl numbly, she seemed less mysterious and isolated then the feline she had met previously. What puzzled the crimsonette even further was that she seemed to be missing her trademark bow, the very item that helped to hide her more feline features. “I don’t understand, I’d..heard that the initiation test is supposed to be difficult but..you’re making it sound like people are guaranteed to die.”

Blake would shift uncomfortably as her gaze fell to the floor, even her ears seemed to droop in disappointment in what she was about to say. “I hate to be the one to have to say this, but whatever rumors you may have heard about the test are probably a lot more delicate than what the reality has demonstrated.” She would gesture for Ruby to follow her as the raven-haired woman continued to walk down the hallway while biting her lip in apprehension, the younger girl seemingly upset but still determined to follow her nonetheless. “I’ve heard stories of people coming back from the initiation test physically mangled, emotionally broken, and then there are those that never mad it back home. Those were the lucky ones if you can believe it.” The Faunus girl would look back at her silver-eyed counterpart, not surprised to see how shaken up she was.

“It can’t be that bad, I know that they’ll probably drop us in an area infested with Grimm but the teachers would never allow any of us to be hurt!” Ruby would wince as the pressure in her head began to throb once again, the scenario Blake had presented to her seemed far too cruel even for this world. “If they did that..then that would mean that we really are nothing more than just disposable soldiers to them: Me, my sister, even mom…” She could feel the pressure beginning to build up into a raging inferno, only for the sudden embrace of someone who was once a dear friend to hold her close.

“I know how you feel, it’s terrifying when you come to realize that the people you’re fighting for don’t give a damn about you.” Blake would calmly stroke the younger girl’s hair as Ruby began to sob, gritting her teeth to bite back her own churning emotions at the situation they were about to be thrown into. “Trust me when I say that sometimes this world is too evil to deserve people like Huntsmen and Huntresses to defend it, but for every evil, conceited soul that decides to send us to a possible death against the creatures of Grimm- there are a hundred more innocent people who will die without us.” Blake would kneel to bring herself to eye level with the younger girl, taking care to wipe away the tears from her uniquely colored eyes. “Instead of letting yourself feel used like a weapon, picture yourself as a shield for the people. Without you, us. They would spend their lives cowering in fear waiting for the end to come, and with that feeling of fear comes even more Grimm.”

Ruby would look at Blake calmly, the stress and pressure from earlier had eased back down into a dull ache as she digested the meaning behind Blake’s words and felt her heartbeat return to a more placid rate. “So, we’re like a ray of hope against the darkness. The last island of good against an ocean of evil..us against the world.”

The raven-haired girl would giggle at the red hood’s words, her yellow eyes shining with mirth as she stood back up. “It’s a bit on the fairy tale-ish end, but yes. That is certainly one way to view our situation, us against the world.” She would smile and hold out her hand to the younger woman. “I’m Blake, but then you already knew that somehow.”

Ruby would blush in embarrassment, not sure if it was possible for her to possibly explain the events of the previous Beacon without sounding completely insane. “My name’s Ruby, and I’m really happy to meet you Blake.” For the first time since this nightmarish sequence of events began, the silver-eyed girl felt a small spark of hope ignite in her heart. “Now, about that whole getting-back-to-the-sleeping-area thing. Do you think you can lead the way back?”

The feline-eared girl would giggle once again and take the others hand as she did, a sheepish blush of her own dusting her cheeks. “Sure thing Ruby.” The pair would continue to make banter and small talk as they walked back, neither aware of the black cloaked figure spying upon them from the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter, hell this entire story is going much longer then I had envisioned.  
> This Chapter in particular took a very different path then I intended.


End file.
